Elizabeth Gordon Quinn
Published in volume Scot-Free
First Staged:
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 1985

Elizabeth Gordon Quinn (original Traverse Theatre version)

By Chris Hannan
Published in volume Scot-Free

A contemporary classic set during the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915, with one of the best women's roles ever to emerge from Scottish theatre, an unforgettable tragicomic heroine with an extraordinary power to repel and attract.

The Quinn family live in a Glasgow tenement so poor the only floor covering is old newspapers. But Elizabeth Gordon Quinn is indomitable in the face of poverty and rising rents. Furthermore, she is harbouring a son who is wanted by the police for desertion.

Chris Hannan's play Elizabeth Gordon Quinn was first staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1985. This original version of the play is published in the collection Scot-Free.

Also available: a revised version of the play, toured by the National Theatre of Scotland in 2006.

Press Quotes

'You expect a play set in the Glasgow rent strikes of 1915 will be a model of dour social realism, but Chris Hannan confounds all expectations. The result is both startling and provocative'

Guardian
Published in volume Scot-Free

Also by Chris Hannan:

Elizabeth Gordon Quinn
What Shadows
Crime and Punishment
Shining Souls
The Baby
The God of Soho
The Evil Doers

Go to author page...

Similar Titles
A collection of seven plays from Scottish writers, reflecting the upsurge in Scottish playwriting in the late twentie...
An intense psychological drama set in a women's prison, in which a mother and daughter try to break through the barri...
A riotously funny comedy with a gallery of unforgettable characters, published here in a revised version alongside it...
A contemporary classic set during the Glasgow Rent Strike of 1915, with one of the best women's roles ever to emerge...
A celebration of women's work in a Glasgow wash-house set on Hogmanay.
Germaine Lauzon has won a million Green Shield stamps. She invites her female friends and relations to a party to pas...